Coroner Lord Justice Goldring tells jury on the first day of the Hillsborough
inquest that the tragedy was Britain's worst ever sporting disaster

The official capacity of Hillsborough's Leppings Lane End, where 96 Liverpool fans died in Britain's worst ever sporting disaster, was substantially too high, an inquest has heard.

The safety certificate issued for the terraces at Sheffield Wednesday's ground claimed the capacity at one end of the stadium was 10,100.

But at the opening of the long awaited inquests into the deaths of the football supporters, the Coroner, Lord Justice Goldring, told the jury they would hear evidence that the figure was much too high.

He said it was one of a number of issues they would have to assess in deciding what happened on that fateful day in April 1989 when an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest ended in disaster.

He told the jury: "Our task, ladies and gentlemen is to investigate the facts to reveal the truth in a public forum and to reach the conclusions on the basis of the evidence presented."

Lord Justice Goldring said the events of that afternoon when 96 football fans were crushed to death in the Leppings Lane end of Sheffield Wednesday were "seared on the memories" of their loved ones.

In a summary of the evidence the jury will hear during the inquest, which could last up to a year, the coroner said they would hear about problems with the design of the stadium and the stands into which the Liverpool fans were packed.

He said in 1979 the Leppings Lane end had been issued with a safety certificate setting the maximum capacity at 10,100.

But he told the jury: "The expert evidence will be the capacity figure for the Leppings Lane, which was inserted in the safety certificate and which indicated the numbers permitted to enter was substantially too high."

Lord Justice Goldring told the jury of seven women and four men that on the terraces themselves one of the crush barriers had been removed while others were at the wrong height.

The inquest also heard how a previous match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest a year earlier had been regarded by the police as a success, despite the fact there had been evidence of crushing at that game.

Lord Justice Goldring said: "At least some senior personnel in South Yorkshire Police and the FA appeared to have regarded the match as a success. Whether all shared that view and whether they were right to do so will be for you to consider."

The inquest heard that the ticket allocation for the fateful match had been set at 24,000 for Liverpool fans and 30,000 for the Nottingham Forest supporters, based on the previous year's experience.

Lord Justice Goldring explained that it was recommended that the allocations were switched but the suggestion was rejected by South Yorkshire Police.

He said: "You will hear evidence as to why they did that. It seems they regarded the 1988 arrangement was the best way to manage the arrival of fans while maintaining segregation."

The jury were also told that the police officer in overall charge on the day, Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield, had only recently been promoted and did not have a "wealth of experience" in policing football.

"Whether that was a sensible decision may be something you have to consider," he told the jury.

Lord Justice Goldring also said in their planning the police had been extremely concerned with preventing hooliganism on the day.

He said: "It may be said by some that this was a reasonable concern given the extent of serious soccer hooliganism at the time.

"It may be said by some others that the police planning was too focussed on problems of disorder and insufficiently focussed on issues of crowd safety."

Before beginning his summary the inquests formally got underway with the coroner reading out of the names of all 96 who died.